Help w/ New Wrasse

[Les Poissons]

I just added this Melanurus Wrasse to my new-to-me Red Sea Reefer 170. Nitrates and Phosphates were up around 40 and 0.60 respectively when the fish was added a couple days ago but through water changes I have them down to about 25 and 0.35. Drip acclimated, and pH, Alk, and salinity were very close anyway

To be honest I was distracted at the LFS when we picked up this guy. My daughter was watching but I was not. I didn’t notice any illness at the time, but I should have been looking more closely.

I didn’t notice anything until 36 hours after putting it in the tank. Looks like it has some damage to pectoral fin on left side, as well as some spots/damage on the body itself. Could it have hurt itself trying to bury for the night in its new environment, or is this a disease? I don’t have a hospital tank, but can probably buy what I need to set one up tomorrow.

I’m new to this… been running a reef tank for seven months (this one for a week), but this is my first issue with a fish. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Les Poissons]

I should add, it’s eating well and seems to be otherwise be acting normally. Hunting for little snacks in the rocks and eating frozen food when I feed the tank.

 

[Ascartes]

If you could get some clear pictures under white lighting, it'll help the experts here ID it.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I just added this Melanurus Wrasse to my new-to-me Red Sea Reefer 170. Nitrates and Phosphates were up around 40 and 0.60 respectively when the fish was added a couple days ago but through water changes I have them down to about 25 and 0.35. Drip acclimated, and pH, Alk, and salinity were very close anyway

To be honest I was distracted at the LFS when we picked up this guy. My daughter was watching but I was not. I didn’t notice any illness at the time, but I should have been looking more closely.

I didn’t notice anything until 36 hours after putting it in the tank. Looks like it has some damage to pectoral fin on left side, as well as some spots/damage on the body itself. Could it have hurt itself trying to bury for the night in its new environment, or is this a disease? I don’t have a hospital tank, but can probably buy what I need to set one up tomorrow.

I’m new to this… been running a reef tank for seven months (this one for a week), but this is my first issue with a fish. Any help would be appreciated.

Tough to see, but any damage to the pectoral fin of a wrasse can be an issue because they use those fins to propel them through the water.
Is it in with anything that could be causing this damage? Wrasse don’t really injure themselves burying in sand, they are well adapted for that.
Jay

 

[Les Poissons]

I’ll try to get better pics tomorrow. It’s asleep for the night and I can’t seem to find in it the sand. The tank is new to me, so I’m not 100% sure on what’s in there, but the only other fish are two small watchman gobies. There’s also a cleaner shrimp, and pistol shrimp, some hermits and snails. I’ve also seen brittle stars, asterina stars, and bristle worms. Nothing that I would think would cause a problem.

 

[Les Poissons]

Okay, new pic and video with white lights turned up. Hopefully this helps identify what’s going on. Anyone able to help?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay, new pic and video with white lights turned up. Hopefully this helps identify what’s going on. Anyone able to help?

Wow - sure looks like an injury, but those tankmates wouldn’t be an issue.
Does it look to be getting worse? If not, you might want to just watch it, as a proper treatment would be to move it to a treatment tank and dose with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic.
Jay

 

[Les Poissons]

Wow - sure looks like an injury, but those tankmates wouldn’t be an issue.
Does it look to be getting worse? If not, you might want to just watch it, as a proper treatment would be to move it to a treatment tank and dose with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic.
Jay

I don’t think it has changed much since I first noticed it the other day. I wish I had taken a closer look at my LFS. Lesson learned. I suppose it’s also possible that one of his tank mates at the store caused the damage, but of course I didn’t take note of what was in the tank with him.

 

[Les Poissons]

Well the wrasse just emerged from the sand this morning and he’s clearly much worse and in distress. I don’t have a hospital tank but can run to the store to get what I need. Not even sure what to treat him with at this point or if it’s too late.

 

[Les Poissons]

Just to close the loop on this in case anyone comes across it later with a similar issue: I was able to move the wrasse to a hospital tank that I quickly set up with some extra rock from the sump and a mix of fresh saltwater and tank water from a water change. I treated with Kanaplex and Metroplex as that's all I could get my hands on quickly. Unfortunately the fish didn't show any improvement and died shortly before I was able to administer a second dose of the medications.

At this point the other fish that were in the tank with the wrasse seem to be just fine, but I'm keeping a close eye on them just in case.

Here are the last pics in the progression of the disease. The fish had been dead in the hospital tank for about 12 hours (I was away but my wife saw it) before I was able to remove it and take the last picture.

 

[Remy123]

I’m sorry for the loss. My guess is an injury that may have happened in shipping or at the LFS before you ever got it home. Could have led to a infection.